


the principle of midnight calls

by goldenreeds



Series: begin anew [1]
Category: Frankly in Love - David Yoon
Genre: Best Friends, Dorks in Love, Frank is oblivious, Friends to Lovers, Gay Panic, M/M, Pining, hanna gives sisterly advice, joy and frank are still friends because i said so, lots and lots and lots of pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:01:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22131454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldenreeds/pseuds/goldenreeds
Summary: calls of all kinds involving Frank Li, from late night talks to midnight panic to self-realizations.
Relationships: Frank Li & Hanna Li, Frank Li & Joy Song, Frank Li/Q Lee, Q Lee & Hanna Li
Series: begin anew [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1593046
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	the principle of midnight calls

Frank Li had a mental checklist he's had since he was a child. Some of it was from expectations from Mom-n-Dad. Some of it was only a part of what he actually _wanted_ to do. But nonetheless, the list existed. It was a fairly simple list. It was a bullet-point plan of what to do in his life.

Go to college. Get a degree. Start a career in music. Be successful and famous -- which ever happens first. Marry the love of his life someday, whoever that may be.

Frank Li was never that good at doing what he was expected to do anyway.

+

Go to college. Now _that_ was easy. Stanford already accepted him, so it was no problem at all. Getting through college was going to be the hard part, but he'll burn that bridge when he gets to it. When he says that to Hanna as they're carrying his stuff to his new dorm -- well, Miles was, it wasn't as if they'd let Hanna do it when she's pregnant -- she simply laughs at him. To his face.

"Yeah, you'll be saying that now," Hanna said. "Just wait until reality comes crashing back at you later."

When Frank shoots her a look of confusion, she pats his head in sympathy or pity, and goes to Miles. (Weeks later, in the middle of an afternoon class, Frank thinks back on that encounter and pounds his head on the desk. His classmates will look at him weirdly. But he won't care. Frank Li is stupid.)

As things start to change, with college and classes and shit, Frank is grateful for one thing. Or one person, perhaps. And that person came in the wonderful Q Lee. Despite what happened to them before Frank left (that kiss, how _finally_ saw Q, how he thought his face was something someone could fall in love with), nothing has changed. Nothing has changed. Except everything.

Q looked at him, a digital person on a screen. The video call is almost an hour long, but it doesn't feel enough. For some reason, all their weekly calls never do feel enough. Even as he stared at Q now, a weird feeling stuck on his chest, it doesn't feel enough. It's probably nothing. Right...? (It doesn't feel like nothing.)

"So, how's it going there in MIT, old bean?" Frank said instead, burying the thoughts of feelings on the back of his head.

"Same old, same old," Q said. "It's actually been nice... if I'm being honest. There are so many different kinds of people and they're all different kinds of weird. And it's nice."

"Sounds like you fit right in," Frank said fondly.

"It'd be better if you were here though."

"I'm not the one who got in to MIT," Frank said, shrugging. 

"Doesn't matter. I'd still want you here anyway."

Frank can't help the smile on his face. "So would I, old chap."

They held their gaze for a milisecond to long. Frank looked away. Q coughed.

"So, um, how's Hanna been?" Q asked awkwardly.

"She and Miles are great," Frank said, thinking of his older sister. It always made him smile.

"Glad to hear it," Q said, a soft smile on his face. "I'm glad she's fine with your parents too."

"Yeah, Mom's really happy with her new granddaughter. It's always about Sunny these days. Her calls to _me_ are about Sunny."

"That's your mom's way of being sorry for what happened," Q pointed out.

"I know. It's kinda nice," Frank said.

"Man, I'd kill to be there with you right now. It sucks to be so far away," Q said.

"That's what you get for getting in MIT," Frank said, shrugging.

"Hey, I'll have you know I could be in Stanford if I wasn't too cool for them to handle."

"Sure, dude, sure."

And he smiled. So does Q. Their gazes hold for a milisecond longer. This time, it doesn't matter. Instead, Q launches on what happened on campus the day before, and Frank listens, that same smile on his face. Because Q was laughing, and Frank wanted to laugh because he was. And they keep talking. Until they realize it's half past twelve, goofy smiles on their faces. And they'd keep talking anyway. Nothing has changed, hasn't it? Well, nothing but everything.

Could that be a bad thing?

+

Calls with Hanna were frequent. Trying to build that brotherly-sisterly bond after it's been severed took effort, after all. So, he tried to call Hanna as much as he could, and she answered as much as she could. That was why Frank found himself in the kibrary, staring at a smiling Hanna, glowing from pregnancy, and it hurts to be smiling so much. It's his sister, and he missed her.

Then that weird question from Hanna pops up.

"So, how's Q?" she asked as nonchalantly as she could. But Hanna was exactly like their mom, and subtle wasn't in both of their vocabularies.

"He's fine. Why'd you ask?" Frank said.

"Just asking. You talk about him a lot recently, and well, I wanted to know how he's doing." And Hanna smiled.

"He's great," Frank said as casually as he could. "He's just busy with college. Like I am."

"Uh-huh. Do you two talk a lot?"

"Yes. What's up with the questions?"

"Huh?" Hanna said innocently. "No reason. Oh, is that Miles, I hear? Yes, honey?"

And the call ends. Frank stared at the screen where his sister's name glowed. What the hell was that about?

+

Frank stared at his phone. He stared at where Joy Song's name lit up on his screen. What the fuck? Why was Joy calling him? A million thoughts go through his head during the split second it takes him to answer the call and sputter out a shaky hello.

"There's my guy! How's Stanford?" Joy said, because they're friends.

It's weird to be friends with exes, but Frank and Joy were friends for a long time before they dated. It was easy for them to fall back into that. When Joy yells in his ear, he doesn't think that he's calling an ex-girlfriend but a sister. He knows Joy feels the same.

"I could ask the same thing about CMU," Frank said.

"Eh, it's still like kindergarten," Joy said, because she called highschool _kindergarten_. "How's Q? I know he's bombing it at MIT, but I had to ask."

Frank laughed. "He _is_ bombing it at MIT because he's Q, and he's amazing. You should know better."

Joy hummed. "You two talk often?" There's a strange tone to her voice like the one Hanna had.

"Yes...? Because we're friends...?"

Joy snorted at that. "Oh, please."

"What?"

"Nevermind. Call me again, Frank Li, when you realize it for yourself."

"Realize _what_?"

His question goes unanswered when Joy hangs up. The strange nature of Joy's call follows him into next week.

+

"Hanna and Joy called me earlier last week," Frank tells Q one night.

"Really? Why?" Q asked.

"I don't know. They were being really weird to. And they kept asking about you." Frank kept thinking. "What do you think is up with them?"

For some reason, Q doesn't look at him when he says, "I don't know. Maybe they're just meddling."

"What could they be meddling about that?" Frank asked.

"Don't ask me, old chap. I haven't got a clue."

"Hey...uh, do you think they know?" Frank asked.

"About what?"

"About...the kiss."

At the mention of the kiss, Q froze up. Frank doesn't know why he brings it up either. Because he's a coward. Because he feels weird. Because he always feels weird around Q. Because that kiss makes him feel weird. Heart clenching sort of weird. Because Frank could list all the reasons, and he wouldn't understand them.

The question hangs in the air. Frank changes the subject.

The thought of that kiss is hung on another shelf on the back of Frank's mind.

+

Intrusive thoughts were unwelcome. That's why they were called intrusive. As Frank breezes his way between classes and projects and deadlines, the kiss and the calls manage to sneak their way in between the gears that keep his brain running throughout the day. Images of Q laughing. Sensations of their lips pressed together -- hesitant yet warm, bringing a flood of feelings he doesn't understand. Joy's offer to call him when he realizes. What he'll realize is still a question he asks himself, and an answer to which he hasn't found, and one Joy clearly won't tell him.

Intrusive thoughts of Q, Joy, calls, and kisses follow him. So do the way his heart clenches when he thinks of each thought.

+

"I think I'm having a heart attack," Frank told Q.

"What? Dude, what the hell?"

"I-I don't know, man. I'm having this weird feeling in my chest."

"It's gas," Q deadpanned.

"Not funny, dude. Oh god, what if I'm _dying_?"

"Cool it, Hamlet, you're probably fine," Q said rolling his eyes.

"It's just....this feeling. It doesn't stop. I can't stop thinking about it. I have no idea why! No matter how much I think about it, it won't go away, and it keeps happening whenever I--"

Frank stops in his tracks. _Whenever I think of you_ , he was going to say.

Oh. Oh shit.

+

He calls Joy the next day.

"Huh, so did you figure it out?" she asked.

"I'm in love with Q."

"Ah, there it is. I knew it was there somewhere."

The satisfaction in her voice brings him to another realization.

"Holy shit. You knew?"

"Yeah, duh, you're like a _brother_ to me. Of course I knew. So what are you gonna do about it?"

"I...I don't know."

Joy's facepalm rings in his ear.

+

It's been ringing for a while not. Each second it keeps on ringing sends nervousness down Frank's spine. It keeps on ringing. It doesn't stop ringing. Then it does.

Q didn't answer.

He calls again. No answer.

+

Frank keeps calling. Q ignores it. He doesn't know why. Actually, no, that's a lie. He _does_ know why. He's afraid. He's afraid Frank will call him and tell him he knows. He knows that Q still has feelings for him. He knows that that kiss back on his front porch has been keeping him awake, invading his thoughts at every waking hour, and repeats them over and over at the back of his lid. He'll call and tell him he can't be friends with him anymore. He'll call. And things will be over.

He doesn't want things to be over.

His phone rings again. He still doesn't answer. As he walked down the steps of the front of MIT, he tried to ignore the vibrating of his phone on his pocket. The sun on his back, new deadlines arising, and Q knows he has much better things to do than answer that phone call. (Better things, not more important, because no one was as important to him as Frank Li.) So he ignored it. Tries to anyway. His converse lead him down the steps, worn shoes that he's had since he was a freshman in high school. And now he's in college. Still wearing the same shoes since high school. Still in love with the same boy since high school.

(Metaphor incoming.)

The phone is still ringing. It's the fifth time it rang. He ignored it again. It's not like Frank was there anyway--

"Q!" a horribly familiar voice yelled his name.

He was wrong. Frank Li _was_ there. In a hoodie and jeans, phone on his ear because he was trying to call him. The questions why, what, how, died on his tongue as Q stared at him in disbelief. He blinked. Frank Li was sti there. His traitorous heart kept stuttering in his chest. Frank Li was standing in front of him. And it was no dream. Frank Li was there, staring at him with the brightest eyes in the entire world, eyes that Q has fallen in love with too many times.

Then Frank speaks.

"I told you that you will make a lucky boy happy someday," he said softly.

Frank took his hands. Intertwined them. It fit. Like parts of a puzzle they forgot they could solve.

"Let me be that boy. Let me be the one to make you happy."

It was so soft it could be lost to the wind. But Q could never mishear it. Those were the words he'd been waiting to hear. Words he thought he'd only hear in his dreams, in his head, and they weren't. Because Frank Li was there, and holding his hands like they were the world. Holding _him_ like he was the world.

Q doesn't have words. Instead, he stood on the tips of his toes, and kissed him -- like they did on his porch that warm day. His lips were soft and warm. Still hesitant. And they were everything he dreamed they'd be.

Frank Li was _kissing_ him. If it was a dream, then let him not wake.


End file.
